In Hollywood, long-lasting marriages can be hard to come by. So, when there’s a relationship that has successfully gone the distance, there’s nothing else to do but celebrate it.
For Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, a statement has never rung so true. Having been together since 2005, the couple continue to take over every red carpet and awards show—and Hollywood entirely—to remind us that their romance is simply true love at its finest.
Despite having been together for over a decade, the Australian and the New Zealand-born’s relationship hasn’t been short of hiccups and their marriage has remained, for the most part, behind closed doors. But this has only proven that their relationship can go the distance, clearly more in love with each other now than ever before.
While, yes, it feels as if they’ve been an item since the beginning of time, their love story is jam-packed full of sweet stories, glamorous moments and serendipitous circumstances.
Below, we take a deep dive into Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban‘s entire relationship—from a first-sight crush to present-day family life.
January 2005: Nicole Meets Her “Crush” Keith At A Party
Four years after divorcing from Tom Cruise, Nicole and Keith first crossed paths at a G’Day USA Gala in 2005. While it was clearly love at first sight, neither of the two thought that other was interested in a relationship.
Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres, Nicole opened up about how she met her future husband, telling the talk show host that she remembered thinking, “I had such a crush on him, and he wasn’t interested in me”.
While for Keith, he also developed a crush on Nicole after they first met, sharing with Oprah Winfrey that he thought Nicole was “out of this world” when they first locked eyes.
“I swear to you, she glided across the room, floated. I don’t know how she did it,” he said on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “It was out of this world and there was a split moment where she wasn’t with anybody, and I thought, ‘I’ll just go up and say hi.’”
He added that he and Nicole “really clicked” once they started talking, but Nicole still claims that he didn’t call her for four more months.
“I remember thinking, I had such a crush on him, and he wasn’t interested in me,” Nicole told DeGeneres back, adding, “It’s true! He didn’t call me for four months”.
But according to Keith, he found it difficult to work up the courage to get in touch with her, despite having her phone number.
“Somebody had given me her number and I had it in my pocket for a while. I kept looking at it thinking, ‘If I call this number, she’s going to answer. I don’t know what [to] say’,” the musician said in a 2018 appearance on former Australian talk-show Interview.
“I wasn’t in a very healthy place in my life. I’d never have thought she’d see anything in a guy like me,” he said, adding, “But at some point, I plucked up the courage to call those numbers and she answered, and we started talking and we talked and talked and talked and talked and it was effortless”.
June 2006: Nicole Knew That She Wanted To Marry Keith
Of course, Nicole and Keith began dating, but it was only a few months later that she decided she wanted to marry him.
In an interview with People, the Nine Perfect Strangers star opened up about how on her 38th birthday, Keith surprised her by turning up to her doorstep at 5 a.m. with a bunch of gardenias and a plan to take her to Woodstock in New York. It was then that she quickly realised that he might be The One.
“That is when I went, ‘This is the man I hope I get to marry’,” she recalled. “It was pretty intense. I believed by that point he was the love of my life. Maybe that’s because I am deeply romantic, or I’m an actress, or I have strong faith as well, but I just believed, ‘Oh, okay, here he is.’”
June 25, 2006: Nicole and Keith Got Married In A Beautiful, Sydney Ceremony
Thankfully, Nicole didn’t have to wait too long to tie the knot with Keith. The pair married later that same month at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in Manly, Australia, with Hugh Jackman and Crowded House singer Neill Finn performing at their ceremony. But the guest list was even more stacked with A-listers like Russell Crowe, Baz Luhrmann and Naomi Watts, just to name a few.
Celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary, Nicole recently shared a throwback to the special day. Posting a photo of the couple on their special day, she and Keith can be seen lighting a unity candle together at the wedding, where she wore a one-shoulder Balenciaga wedding dress and was sporting her famous ringlets.
“Sweet XVI. Remember this like it was yesterday. Forever,” she wrote, alongside the photo.
October 2006: The Newlyweds Faced Their First Hurdle As Husband And Wife
Prior to staging an intervention for Keith in 2006, the musician had already completed two separate stays in a rehab facility. After his wedding to Nicole, he headed back for a third time, where he stayed for three months, according to O Magazine.
“I caused the implosion of my fresh marriage,” Urban revealed in an 2016 interview with Rolling Stone. “It survived, but it’s a miracle it did”.
“I was spiritually awoken with her. I use the expression ‘I was born into her,’ and that’s how I feel. And for the first time in my life, I could shake off the shackles of addiction.”
In 2007, Nicole sat down with Vanity Fair to share how she believed they had met each other at the perfect time, saying, “I would probably say that two very lonely people managed to meet at a time when they could open themselves to each other. We were a mixture of frightened and brave.”
July 2008: Nicole and Keith Welcomed Their First Child Together
On July 7, 2008, the couple announced that their first child, a daughter named Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to the birth of her daughter, Nicole had previously adopted two children, Isabella and Conner, with her ex-husband Tom Cruise.
According to People, Sunday Rose’s name is an ode to Keith’s grandmother, Rose, and Australian art patron, Sunday Reed.
December 2011: The Couple Welcomed Their Second Child
Come December 29, 2011, and the pair announced that they’d welcomed their second daughter via surrogate.
“Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret,” the couple shared in a 2011 statement, as per People.
In an interview with Vogue, Nicole opened up about suffering two miscarriages during her relationship with Cruise, explaining that she wished she could have had more children with Keith.
“I wish I could have met [Keith] much earlier and had way more children with him, but I didn’t,” she told the publication. “I mean, if I could have had two more children with him, that would have been just glorious.”
September 2014: Nicole’s Father Tragically Passes Away
On September 12, Nicole’s beloved father, Antony Kidman, passed away from a suspected heart attack in the restaurant of an exclusive hotel in Singapore.
“He has been so good to me for nine years, but for the last sort of month—which has been a really tough time for me—when you have your partner who just literally carries you through a tough time, he’s been amazing to me,” she told the talk show host. “To have my husband to step up in that way it makes me cry. He’s amazing. I will keep him. I’ll do anything for that man.”
October 2018: Nicole Reveals The Secret To Their Healthy, Happy Marriage
“Obviously, I work hard, but when I’m off, I’m off,” she said. “Keith and I are very good at immediately clicking off because we have a really good life in Nashville that’s very simple, quiet, and nourishing because we’ve made it like that.”
But occasionally, her personal life seeps into her professional life. For example, her two daughters made a guest appearance in the second season of Big Little Lies.
“They were in as extras in Big Little Lies, which I’ve never told anyone. There I am now being a big mouth,” she revealed to DeGeneres, in October 2018.
March 2019: Keith Reveals That He Wrote A Song In Honour Of Nicole
In an interview with iNews, Keith shared that the lyrics to his 2008 song “Gemini” were written about his wife, and thankfully, she loved it. The song itself describes a woman, who we now know is Nicole, as being “not quite a contradiction”, “quick with a snap decision” and “strong on her strong opinions”.
“The song is actually about Nicole—and she loves it,” he told the publication. “It’s a fun song. My co-writer Julia Michaels asked me to describe Nicole and that’s what came out.”
May 2019: Nicole Said That Keith Helped Her Through The Darkness Of Filming Big Little Lies Season 2
After one episode of Big Little Lies, it’s easy to see how the show becomes rather dark, rather quickly. Turns out, Keith was the reason why Nicole was able to keep a level head when filming some of her harrowing scenes.
“I have the most extraordinary partner in life. I will always say that about him,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
“I’m one of the very fortunate women in the world to have had a wonderful father, and I have a wonderful husband, and I’m just very—I love to be able to say that because to talk about the good men that have influenced me and affected me.”
January 2020: The Couple’s Home Fell Under Threat Of The Australia’s Black Summer Bushfires
According to Us Weekly, an eyewitness claimed to see Nicole “crying” at Gold Meets Golden event in Beverly Hills, after discovering that their Australian home was considered “under threat”. At that time, Australia was amidst the Black Summer bushfires, which saw seven months of devastation and 34 lives lost, as well as an estimated 1.25 billion animals killed in New South Wales and Victoria alone.
However, Nicole later told Extra that their house was luckily unharmed from the tragic events.
“Our home is OK,” she told the news outlet. “It’s been under threat, though, it’s been under enormous threat, and the surrounding areas have been very, very badly burned.”
May 2020: Nicole Breaks Her Ankle While In Lockdown For The Pandemic
The pandemic’s first lockdown saw many of us concerned with losing our athletic stamina, thanks to endless time at home and away from outdoor exercise and gyms. But for Nicole she stayed a little too active, breaking her ankle after running around their neighbourhood.
“About five weeks ago, she was running around the neighbourhood, as she does,” Keith shared on The Project. “And just didn’t see a pothole and rolled her ankle and got a small break in her ankle. And so she’s been relegated to the boot for the last handful of weeks.”
February 2021: Nicole and Keith Share Rare Glimpse Of Their Two Daughters
While attending that year’s at-home Golden Globes ceremony, footage of Nicole and her family saw us catch a glimpse of her and Keith’s two daughters. The family of four were all dressed up as if they were attending the event in person, with Sunday and Faith both wearing matching white dresses.
December 2021: Keith Clears Up Speculation That He Wasn’t Initially Interested In Nicole
In an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Keith addressed the decade-old rumour that he wasn’t initially attracted to the Being the Ricardos actress. But to clarify, he reassured everyone that that was never was the case.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way this girl is interested in me at all,'” Urban explained. “Somebody had given me her number, and I couldn’t bring myself to call that number. […] I was nervous!”
And it’s clear that the love between the two is still just as strong. During promotion for Being the Ricardos, Kidman fawned over the mere mention her husband, telling Entertainment Tonight, “I honestly wouldn’t be here without him, so I say that with incredible love and gratitude. He’s my rock. He’s my everything”.
March 2022: Keith Flew To Nicole At 1 a.m. To Be With Her At The Oscars
With a performance in Las Vegas the night before the 2022 Academy Awards, Keith was hellbent on being by his wife’s side for the awards ceremony, where she was nominated for her role as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos.
“He got on a plane, got here at 1 a.m. and he’s here with me,” Kidman told Vanessa Hudgens at the event’s red carpet, while holding her husband’s hand.
Earlier that same year, Nicole opened up about how grateful she is that they had met, sharing that he is the “best thing” that’s ever happened to her.
“I met him later in life and it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Kidman told CBS Mornings during an interview of her husband. “That man is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“We’re a mix. We’re very suited [for each other]. I’m incredibly lucky to have met him.”
